First, let me start my post with a small introduction of who
I am! My name is April and I am the daughter of the amazingly talented owner of
Seams Sew Right Quilt Studio, Maylee! I
grew up in a house where quilting was just a part of our lives. She would have
her work station in the living room where there would be stacks of fabric and
pins, LOTS and LOTS of pins. This is what we called her staging area. It was
where she would start to piece the quilt together. I won’t tell a lie, but this
was for sure not my favorite part of the quilting stage. You know that moment
when you are looking to relax after a long day at school and plop down on the couch
to watch some much needed television when…
…“OUCH” you get like 5 or 6 pins in your rear!
You all
know what I am talking about! If you don’t TRUST ME when I tell you your kids
do!! I remember my brother and I would always have to do a “rub” check of all
the furniture in the house before we would sit down. But darn it, one or two of
those suckers would make it past the rub down and still manage to find our
backsides!
Needless
to say we were really excited when she would move up to her quilt studio room.
This meant that we would eventually find all the pins just in time for her to
start a new project and the vicious cycle would continue on.
One would think that with my mom being the amazing, and dedicated quilter that she is, that maybe this knowledge and interest would pass down to me. Yeah, it didn’t! When I was about 9 or 10 my Grammie got me a quilt kit. It was so cute! It was this little sewing box and inside had already cut squares of fabric, some pins, and a sewing kit. It was super neat! I decided what the heck I will try this thing out. When I was told ALL the steps to this process, I was totally not thrilled with the idea! It was way too much work for me! I decided if I wanted a quilt bad enough that I would just have my brilliant mom make one for me!!
This
brings me to my next part of the story, this time I was about 13, and I was
sitting in my mom’s quilt studio room with her as she was making these HUGE
denim quilts. I remember sitting there thinking “where did she get all those
pants to make these quilts.” I panicked a minute and then reminded myself I do
my own laundry so they weren’t mine! What a sigh of relief! Anyway, on with the story…
I was
sitting there looking through a magazine and came across a quilt that was
really cool looking. I showed my mom and
asked if she could make it, she looked up at me with like 20 pins in her mouth
and squinted to see the picture in the book I was holding up. She smiled (yes
the pins still in her mouth) and nodded her head yes….
Side note - Quilters must have a special sort of mouth where
you can hold like 100 pins in your mouth and still have a full blown conversation
AND be understood!
…..Okay back to the story! She then asked me if I wanted her
to make it for me! “Um Yeah!” was my reply! Thinking that this would be so cool
that I would have this awesome quilt that my mom made me and would cherish forever!
About
six months later, she calls me into her studio and tells me she picked out the
fabric for it. My response was “Fabric for what?” I had totally forgotten that
I asked for it! She of course reminds me and I get all excited about it! “Yay
my quilt will be her next project!!” was my thought!
Well
she started it...then over the months and years and more years, I saw everything
come out of that room completed BUT my quilt. I totally just gave up on the
idea of it all!
The
years went by and I got married and had my first baby girl. I think it was
Christmas and we opened up a box my mom got for my daughter and inside of it
was a cute baby quilt for her! Now as a
good mom I was very happy for my daughter on the outside, but on the inside I
was totally “REALLY! She is like 4 months old and she gets a quilt! Where the
heck was mine? The one I have been waiting for, for about 5 years!?” Of course
I didn’t say that out loud I simply smiled and told her thank you, like the
good daughter that I am!
More
years (about 9 more) and it is Christmas again. My wonderful mom calls me up
and tells me she sent us a box for Christmas. I didn’t think anything of it,
just figured she probably made the girls all quilts because she can get those
ones out like they are nothing! (totally kidding….okay not really!) We opened the box and on top were all sorts
of stuff for the kids, gift cards with stuffed animals and in little gift bags.
Now mind you this box was HUGE and so heavy so when I first saw the gift cards
and stuffed animals I was a little confused.
Years went
by and my mom was still a dedicated quilter. Starting projects, and finishing
maybe 1 out of 10 projects every year! Which I thought was pretty good for her! :)! It was no surprise to
us when she said she wanted to open a quilt shop, but it couldn’t be your
average shop! It needed to be different and full of all sorts of colors! It
needed to appeal to ALL quilters! Thus
Seams Sew Right Quilt Studio was born! And I was pulled into the fun internet
world of the store. It has for sure been a learning process for me.
Well
one day I was in Seams Sew Right Quilt Studio and I saw those Cuddle Quilt
Strip Kits. I thought that they would be so cute to make for my kids. She of
course offered to make them and I again laughed “Well mom, I would like them
done before they each have kids of their own!” She of course, knowing how right
I was, agreed that was about right in the timing! I decided that I could totally sew some strips
together and make this thing. Of course I am not thinking of the WHOLE process
here and my mom tells me to look at the online tutorial on how to make these
quilts and all the steps. I totally didn’t watch them and told her I did (shhhh
don’t tell her that!) She mailed me the
kits and I looked at them and saw how big they were.
“WOW!” I thought to
myself, “Maybe I should totally check out this tutorial!”
So I
sat down on my computer and watched them. Okay so like I thought sewing some
strips together “I totally got this!” I was super excited! So I told my husband
to pull out the sewing Machine and like the good husband he is, he did and sat
it up at the table. Then I smiled at him oh so lovingly and said “How about YOU
make these because we both know you know how to use this darn machine and I
will just watch while you show me what I need to do?” (He is in the Army and
sews stuff all the time, he even made a Halloween costume for our youngest
daughter one year! So obviously he was my go to guy with sewing!)
I think
he knew I was going to do that just based on his laugh and head shake. So he
sat and watched the tutorials with me again and he was very intense watching
it, nodding occasionally as if he were letting the lady on the computer know
that he was following. I think I watched him more than I watched the video,
thinking “wow he really does have issues doesn’t he?” (Again! shhhh don’t tell him that!)
Well it
was time to go shopping for the backing, binding, thread and all that jazz…..That
was an adventure all in its own! That is the start of a whole other story! If
you want more tune in again next week! Our story continues then….
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